eDesign Interactive

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Corporate Marketing

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

A cybersecurity company that provides a security testing platform that activates a vetted community of security researchers in a SaaS environment to deliver continuous penetration testing and vulnerability management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire eDesign Interactive to accomplish?

• Create a new and contemporary brand identity
• Build a new website that is modern, improves UX, and optimizes SEO
• Provide a flexible and easy to maintain CMS on the backend

SOLUTION

How did you find eDesign Interactive?

Online Search

Why did you select eDesign Interactive over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from eDesign Interactive were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

eDesign was tasked with creating a new and contemporary brand identity in an industry that is conventional and stereotypical in its design. They delivered original design elements that was unexpected in the cyber industry and gave us a differentiated and fresh look. They created new animation, original graphics and a new Mega Menu that enhanced the UX and improved users’ engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Project launched recently and do not have measurable metrics just yet.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We had weekly meetings with their team during the different phases of the project. We communicated on basecamp and were prompt to respond to our needs, questions and during review cycles.

What was your primary form of communication with eDesign Interactive?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They delivered high-quality and original designs that were unique to our industry. They used current trends in website design, layout and animation elements. They had a responsive and organized project manager and was helpful with optimizing our SEO.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at a publishing company that specializes in graphic novels.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eDesign Interactive?

We needed help to update our company’s website. Our previous site was very simple and around 10 years old.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

eDesign Interactive has designed and developed two sites for our company. eDesign Interactive has created the sites’ UI/UX design and worked on the front- and backend development. During the discovery phase, we provided eDesign Interactive with the site’s wireframes. eDesign Interactive researched our competitors’ sites and helped us define our user personas. Then, eDesign Interactive shared the sites’ design on Figma for us to approve and developed the functionalities on a demo version they shared with us.

For one of the sites, eDesign Interactive has used CakePHP to create a custom CMS. For the other site, eDesign Interactive has used a CMS similar to WordPress since our previous site was created there. We’ve also asked eDesign Interactive for some features we used in WordPress. Our sites are essentially e-commerce sites that show our publishing catalog. Users can search and purchase our complete list of published titles series. 

Moreover, eDesign Interactive has suggested DigitalOcean as our hosting provider and has finished the sites’ development. We’ve entered a new phase of our relationship where eDesign Interactive will provide us with maintenance and SEO services. 

What is the team composition?

I work with three teammates from eDesign Interactive: Vincent (Partner), James (Director of Digital Marketing) has worked on the SEO, and Andrew (Project Manager), who we’ve talked to about project management and the sites’ design. 

How did you come to work with eDesign Interactive?

We found eDesign Interactive on Clutch. We looked at different companies’ profiles and liked eDesign Interactive’s portfolio better. The websites eDesign Interactive had previously designed were visually impressive. We wanted to work with an organization with proof of their work and experience with well-known brands. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $213,500 with eDesign Interactive, including $168,500 for the website’s development, $30,000 in the site’s maintenance, and $15,000 on a side project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We initially contacted eDesign Interactive in August 2022, and after several discussions, we started working together in September 2022. eDesign Interactive completed the sites in April 2023, and they’ll continue to provide maintenance and SEO services for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our new sites are a large glow-up from our previous one — the sites’ design looks good. Although we just launched the sites, I’ve seen an increase already in organic traffic. We didn’t have SEO services from our previous provider, and we’ve already improved our search ranking since we started working with eDesign Interactive. We don’t have many quantitative metrics yet since the sites were just launched. 

How did eDesign Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

eDesign Interactive stays on budget and communicates effectively through Basecamp and weekly calls. However, the site’s launching ended up taking longer than expected. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with the site’s design — it looks really good. The end product meets my expectations, and eDesign Interactive has understood our design requirements. I also like that eDesign Interactive is a one-stop shop we can contact for all our requirements. We’re planning to add more features to our site, and I know eDesign Interactive will be able to do it because they’ve worked on sites with a more complicated scope than ours. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would’ve liked the development to go faster. I understand there are more complicated features to work on, but there are simple details I’d liked eDesign Interactive to automatically resolve instead of asking me for follow-up. 

However, I recognize part of the delay was caused by how we provided the initial documentation since the format wasn’t ideal. We realized things were more complicated than we thought.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager at a privacy-focused email company. We provide email and productivity tools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eDesign Interactive?

From a marketing standpoint, we're in a niche space; we're an alternative to large email companies and are privacy-focused. One of our goals was to have a site design that would reach the general audience with our messaging. 

Another portion of the challenge was to develop a site that could be customizable on the fly. We wanted a CMS that our marketing team could utilize and change without having to tie up our development team. Our previous site was custom-built, and it wasn't easy to change by non-developers. Our new site needed to meet our security and privacy standards and integrate into our backend. Additionally, we wanted a partner to help us with messaging and the site's visual aspect. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we had a fact-finding phase with eDesign Interactive, which involved interviews with our marketing, development, and executive teams to identify needs that weren’t in the statement of work. We provided them with our logo, brand colors, and coloring palette. 

The next phase was to create a mood board with the design aspects of how the site would look like. Together, we settled on a high-concept design with animations and bright colors. eDesign Interactive developed the site’s backend using WordPress. Currently, the team provides monthly work on the site, refining it. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager and an account manager and have had a coordinator and owner during each project phase. I’ve also been in contact with Vincent (Partner) since the early phases. 

How did you come to work with eDesign Interactive?

We put out a standard operating procedure for our site to about 30 website design firms. This vetting process involved a high technical bar to pass. Through this process, we identified eDesign Interactive as the top of the bunch. We worked with them on pricing, came to an agreed-upon budget, and then started our engagement with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started vetting firms in January 2022, signed the agreement with eDesign Interactive in March 2022, and launched the site in December 2022. Our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Since the site’s launch, our signups have increased by 20%. We launched the site last week, so we don’t have refined metrics yet.

How did eDesign Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at project management — informative and responsive. They’re also very thorough and on the ball. eDesign Interactive has teams in different time zones, so we can always get in touch with someone. Moreover, we always know how many hours we have left and our fees if the team goes over them. We can always discuss how to mitigate overage fees with them.

Although we’ve had some setbacks, they were due to health reasons and weren’t up to either side. However, the team has been able to make up for lost time and deliver on time to launch when needed. 

We use email and Zoom calls for communication. Although they use project management tools like BugHerd and Figma, we don’t use any with them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

eDesign Interactive’s human touch and willingness to foster a relationship with us stand out. We have many requirements that not many firms could take on, and eDesign Interactive has been willing to work with us and be patient. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve worked out any issues in the flow. Any team or partnership has growing pains. Whenever something hasn’t worked at the greatest capacity, we’ve identified it and figured it out then and there. eDesign Interactive is well aware of their competencies and able to adapt, so I don’t have any suggestions for improvement — they’ve done a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let eDesign Interactive have as much creative freedom as possible. Since we removed some of the barriers for them, they’ve been able to design something great. Sometimes, clients want too much control, which is fine regarding the CMS aspect. However, eDesign Interactive is a leader in design innovation. If you let them add their creativity, you’ll be happy with the results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the partners at the Orthopedic Institute of New Jersey.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eDesign Interactive?

We needed a company that could help us make our website more user-friendly and attractive to help us stand out in the community.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired eDesign Interactive to redesign our website and handle our SEO needs. They’re tasked with creating content for our blog, such as news and updates. They work with us on keywords for particular services or ailments in orthopedic surgery.

The site allows users to learn about our doctors and locations as well as various educational topics on orthopedic ailments. It also allows them to schedule appointments and download forms to expedite their office visits.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Vincent (Managing Partner), James (Director of Digital Marketing), and Candace (Digital Marketing Specialist).

How did you come to work with eDesign Interactive?

eDesign Interactive was found by a previous CEO.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $200,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve seen an increase in our site traffic — we’re hitting almost 100,000 viewers per month. We’ve also improved our SEO across numerous subspecialties in orthopedics, thanks to their help with our key terms as well as blog posts on certain topics in orthopedic surgery.

How did eDesign Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

eDesign Interactive has performed well in terms of project management. We’ve had no issues with their communication.

We typically communicate through Basecamp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re most impressed with eDesign Interactive’s strong project ownership and genuine interest in our success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to be involved with the decision-making process and to go over the potential options they provide to help you make the best decisions for your business.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a manager of digital marketing at a fertility clinic. Boston IVF is one of the largest and most experienced fertility networks in the United States, with more than 125,000 babies born since 1986. Founded as one of the nation's first private practice IVF centers, the Boston IVF network has grown to include over 30 reproductive endocrinologists across 30 centers throughout Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Utah. A renowned innovator of reproductive technologies, advanced protocols, and cutting-edge research, Boston IVF has achieved numerous "firsts" in reproductive care. Its scientific and research arm continues to pave the way for breakthroughs in fertility care, and its accredited REI Fellowship Program has graduated numerous reproductive endocrinologists as part of its mission to train the next generation of fertility experts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire eDesign Interactive, and what were your goals?

We needed their team’s help in our paid search advertising efforts.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We contacted eDesign to redevelop our current website, and they were one of the participating companies to give us a quote. We chose them because they came prepared with a sound proposal and reasonable questions, and they understood our requirements. Later, we signed a contract for paid advertising.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

We work with eDesign monthly to review performance and KPIs and adjust budgets and goals as needed, as well as any updates to clinics or doctors. In addition, Boston IVF provides any data they need to develop reports. eDesign is heavily involved in high-level strategy and goal setting through paid search execution.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We work with one account manager and a paid search specialist from eDesign’s team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We’ve seen an increase in organic engagement, form conversions, and traffic since eDesign helped us rework our Google advertising. They’ve delivered results that have enabled us to reach milestones we couldn’t achieve with our last company. Paid search traffic is up over 13%, organic search is up 27%, and we feel they have done a fantastic job with our accounts.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We mainly communicate via basecamp, and they conduct monthly meetings to review the previous month. eDesign is consistent in terms of communication and delivery and have been impressive project management skills. Every time we meet, it’s detailed and thorough, and all our questions are answered. Candance and James are knowledgeable and organized, and we look forward to the update call each month.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

eDesign understands the complexities of the fertility industry, and they have taken the time to learn about our territory, treatments, and industry. Their commitment to understanding our needs fully have helped us develop a concrete plan that we can use to move forward with.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

eDesign Interactive are wonderful, and we love working with them!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the associate VP for college relations at Tompkins Cortland Community College, a small upstate college in upstate New York. We’re a part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. One of the departments I oversee is our marketing and communications department. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eDesign Interactive?

We hired eDesign for our digital search campaigns. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

eDesign worked on our Google Search and Analytics efforts in 2021. In 2022, we’ve been using their services for a full digital marketing campaign across New York state. This covers our Facebook and Instagram channels, digital ads, and video. They have a YouTube channel and use it as a pass-through for the videos they’ve created. Moreover, the team has done blog development for us and a comprehensive digital campaign to recruit students for our school. 

What is the team composition?

The team composition varies depending on the project. One team works on blog posts, and another works on digital creation. Then, there’s a content creation and analytics team. In total, we work with 9–10 people across campaigns.  

How did you come to work with eDesign Interactive?

We found eDesign through one of our professional organizations. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $50,000–$200,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them for the first project in July–October 2021. The current engagement started in July 2022, and it’s ongoing. We plan to wrap it up in October 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

For the current campaign, we’ve gained around 990,000 ad impressions. Our campus' website traffic has increased by 27% year over year. For the New York City market, the traffic has been up by 150% year over year. On top of that, we’ve tracked 3,145 calls to action completed in August 2022. Our enrollment is up significantly. 

How did eDesign Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

eDesign’s project management is excellent. In fact, they’re more responsive than me. They use Basecamp to interact with us; we can tag people, drop content, and ask questions through the platform. Our marketing team has access to it, so we can share information and leave comments. 

Overall, we find it easy to use. Having easy access to their staff without going back and forth on emails has been helpful for us. We go over our analytics, timelines, and projects during monthly update meetings via Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been incredibly helpful in terms of working with us as we’ve just entered this arena. City colleges don’t traditionally spend much money on digital marketing. We don’t have the in-house expertise to do something comprehensive. Our team also doesn’t know what we don’t know. 

With that in mind, eDesign has been so patient with us. They’ve helped us learn — we’re a better institution now because of their inputs. Their resources have helped us make better decisions with our website design. Moreover, their members are friendly and accessible.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’re on top of the content and the Basecamp platform. We’ve used it, but we probably could’ve used it more. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the principal of an open-air market in Southern California.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eDesign Interactive?

We needed to update our digital footprint, so we were looking for a partner to help us redo our website and make it more modern and approachable.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

eDesign is helping us redevelop our website through WordPress where they’re also building custom modules for particular features we wanted.

We were quite agnostic in terms of the technology involved, but they provided us with a clear guideline on how they were going to approach the development, starting with a general homepage.

Once that was approved, they started building the other pages and the custom modules and so far, they’ve been gracious in accepting all our feedback despite our limited experience in UI/UX design.

Moreover, they set up the initial SEO analytics, but we’ve opted to handle that in-house to see how things will progress before we invest in digital ads.

What is the team composition?

We’re primarily in contact with Vincent (Partner) and Andrew (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with eDesign Interactive?

We were actually looking up web design companies and Clutch and decided to hire eDesign Interactive based on their good reviews and design portfolio.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $53,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in August 2021, but we’re basically in the final stages of the project as they have a one-month support program up to the launch of the website.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve seen some very good feedback from our users and employees and so far, we’ve gotten a lot more information analytics on where we need to focus our efforts.

How did eDesign Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform well as they’re always on top of every step of the process. I don’t have any tremendous issues with them in organizing the entire project, and they’re very straightforward with what needs to be implemented on the platform.

They use Basecamp to manage the project and we typically communicate through email and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like that they had a large focus on developing an interactive website, rather than creating an informational one. They’re able to display the content in a format that’s highly engaging for the users.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would’ve preferred a little more hand-holding and more SEO analytics guidance.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise you to have a very strong plan of attack for the project and a coordinated executive-level decision-making process — this is so you can modify results and make any changes and corrections early on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a network of the country’s highest powered laser systems working together to provide users’ access to the brightest light. I’m the current vice chair of the organization, which is a government-funded organization. The Department of Energy is our funder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eDesign Interactive?

They developed our website for us. We had an existing website we’d built ourselves, and it was good, but we decided that it was expert friendly, usable by only a small subset of the people we wanted to reach. It had to be accessible a larger group of people and have a larger range of capabilities for everyone. The site also had to be mobile accessible.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, they developed an understanding of our website by interviewing us and giving us written questionnaires. Through this, they learned about who we are, what we do, who our users are, and what they wanted by way of a website. After this extensive period, they worked amongst themselves to come up with a variety of ideas. This began a series of ideas for how the website would work, the logo, and the branding. They ran these ideas by us, revise them, and resubmit them for several iterations. The final deliverables were a website, a logo, and a brand.  

Using the logo, for example, they asked us about colors we liked and motifs that we liked before getting to work. The core of that work — and all the work — came from them. We just offered feedback. We didn’t tell them what the website would look like — only what it should accomplish, and they came up with multiple designs to accomplish those ends.

The top priority was for the website to be visually appealing, and secondly, it had to make finding information easy, including data and tables. We’re going to continue to grow the website with features like the news capability we recently developed.

They will continue to provide maintenance on the website

What is the team composition?

I’m not sure how many people worked on this account, but we were involved in multiple meetings with 6–7 people, from the leadership down to people in the trenches writing the code.

How did you come to work with eDesign Interactive?

They were chosen by the Department of Energy after an extensive research process. I’m not sure what the decision making process was.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $100,000–$150,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2020. The logo and website launched in August 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The most recent round of proposals that came in via our website was very smooth. We didn’t receive any complaints. There aren’t any quantitative metrics, but the proposal process is our most crucial activity, so it has to go well. People from many different countries are using the website and using it effectively.

Our old logo felt like it came from a different age, and the new one is modern and keeps with current standards for logos of similar institutions. Working with eDesign was a pleasure.

How did eDesign Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive to us, and there were no surprises. Nothing went wrong, meaning they were never late and the next round of proposals via the website was very successful.

We didn’t use any specific project management tools, but they were in constant consultation with our program manager from the Department of Energy. Our only interaction with eDesign was for them to gather feedback and critiques from us about how they were doing as they displayed various design versions of the logo and website. They contacted us by email or phone calls, as well as video conferences.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were particularly strong at talking to us and finding out what we wanted, as well as producing a logo and website that conformed to modern standards. Making a website that functions well on a phone is a very different challenge than making one that works well on a desktop. I don’t know if we would’ve had the ability to make a mobile-friendly site.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We want to continue to expand the site’s capability, but that will be an iterative process. For example, we want users to be able to learn about our facilities and each one’s specific abilities using an advanced search mechanism. eDesign has started on that, but there’s still work to be done.

We don’t even know everything we want from the website yet, but as time goes by and our organization grows, we’ll work on that improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be forthright with everything that you want. Don’t hold back.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the engagement manager at Wimpy Kid Inc. I focus on our digital and social media strategy to connect our global users. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eDesign Interactive?

We hired eDesign Interactive to update our outdated website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

eDesign Interactive completely redesigned and developed our website. We provided them with our existing website for review, along with sample websites that we liked for inspiration and examples of what we were looking for. 

eDesign Interactive's design team then went through several stakeholder interviews to better understand what we wanted and what our brand meant. eDesign Interactive took all the compiled information and interpreted it into a heavily animated website design that matched our brand. 

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked with three team members from eDesign Interactive, including Vincent (Partner), James (Director of Digital Marketing), and Petya (Project Manager). 

How did you come to work with eDesign Interactive?

We looked at several web design companies, researching companies that could fit our brand well and think outside the box when it came to adding animations and other extras to the website. A big part of our company is the fun factor and the humor we use online, and we needed a company that could work within that. We saw eDesign Interactive's portfolio and saw an interactive, fun website they designed that solidified our idea to hire eDesign Interactive. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've paid eDesign Interactive around $35,000 thus far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership with eDesign Interactive began in July 2021 and it is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We had a very firm deadline that corresponded with a new movie launching on Disney+, but we realized during the project that we needed to break it down into two phases. eDesign Interactive had been tremendously helpful during this time — they completed the first phase on time and soon will move into the next. 

While there were some issues with design in the Safari browser, eDesign Interactive remedied them quickly.

How did eDesign Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

 eDesign Interactive utilized an online platform to present each segment of the website to us to provide comprehensive feedback. James was our main point of contact; he ran the project and brought in their team members on an as-need basis. eDesign Interactive utilized BugHerd to track site bugs.

We utilized Basecamp to manage the project, which kept everything on track and organized. Communication was smooth throughout the partnership — we had weekly meetings and occasional check-ins as needed. Additionally, because my colleagues and I don't have a lot of background in web development or design, eDesign Interactive broke down each step of the project so we could understand. They ensured we felt comfortable and confident with their design and the backend development process. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We've worked with many different companies over the last few years, and honestly, eDesign Interactive has been the best to work with. We gave them a challenging deadline and very specific requests, but they were great at matching our needs. They always maintained an outstanding level of professionalism and ensured that we were happy with their deliverables. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had to ask them to fix a few minor website elements several times. However, that wasn't a huge issue for us.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Customers who want to work with eDesign Interactive shouldn't be afraid to think outside of the box. eDesign Interactive's team can take any requests and communicate their exact capacities with clients after discussing requests internally. Also, customers should be clear about their budget and their wants and needs. Their team can take all the information customers provide them and turn it into a website that reflects customers' wishes.